Diwali is just one week away and the cleaning and decoration tasks have already begun. Mumma and dadda are utilising every weekend to clean the home; once the cleaning is done, mumma will start decorating the home as she does every year. Dadda puts on the lights and mumma makes beautiful designs on the floor using coloured powders and earthen lamps. The designs are known as ‘rangoli’ and the earthen lamps are known as ‘diyas’.

You can see them in all Indian homes during Diwali, so I asked whether there is some significance behind it or it is just for the sake of decorating the home. Mumma said, sure there a significance behind everything we do. She said we worship ‘goddess Laxmi’, the goddess of wealth during Diwali and we prepare the home to welcome her. Rangolis adorn the main entrance and the place of worship. People of different religions use different things to create the designs – some use coloured powders, some use rice powder or crushed limestone. The patterns also differ largely. But there is no hard and fast rule as to what you should make to create the rangoli.

Mumma said it is also a ritual to light diyas and decorate the home with them. This is to drive away the evil powers. Another reason for lighting the lamps is that Diwali is observed on Amavasi, the darkest day of the Hindu lunar month, so by lighting the lamps we show our ancestors (who are no more) the path towards heaven. There are many other tales about the significance of lighting the lamps, but the main reason why we light them is to remove the evil and welcome goodness.

Mumma makes beautiful designs and our neighbours have also praised her skills. She uses various colourful powders to create the designs. Last year she made a beautiful peacock. This time she will make a design with lotus. Dadda has got new lights that change patterns every few minutes; I am very excited. I want to help mumma and dadda decorate our home. Mumma said she won’t allow me to touch the lights, since it is dangerous for children to touch electrical items; so she said I can help her make the designs. I am sure going to have a great time. We will go to the market to buy the things this weekend.

Mumma said we can make something special to decorate our home as well. She said we will buy colourful papers and make a Chinese lantern at home. We will hang it on the main entrance, so that everyone can see it. Though we don’t know how to make it, we can learn it from the Internet.

Are you decorating your home as well? Will you make rangolis? I am eager to know how the others will decorate their home. So please tell me. I will visit my all my friend’s to see what they have done to decorate their home. So have a great time and Happy Diwali!

With the holiday season round the corner, everyone has started shopping for new dresses, fire crackers, decorative items, etc. Our teacher asked us about our preparations and we had a long discussion. I told my teacher and my friends about our dance program, mumma making homemade sweets, etc. I also told them dadda would be buying me many crackers that we will burst during Diwali.

We had a lot of fun discussing about the holidays. Our teacher said we must all have as much fun as we can during the holidays but we should not forget about safety. We should act responsibly and make sure we do not harm ourselves or the others around us. She said, we all love bursting crackers but we should follow some safety measures to ensure no one gets harmed. Since the crackers need to be burned with fire, any mistake can lead to severe injuries.

So she shared some safety tips and asked us to share them with as many people as we can. So I thought apart from my friends, I should let you all know about the safety tips that our teacher shared with us. So here are the tips:

1. Burst crackers in an open space and make sure there are no combustible and inflammatory objects around.
2. Burst crackers only when your parents are around.
3. Never play with crackers or throw them towards anyone.
4. When putting fire on the crackers, keep your face away.
5. Wear tight and comfortable footwear, so you can quickly move out the place where the crackers are burning.
6. Always wear cotton clothes that are well fitting. Synthetic clothes are a no-no.
7. Keep a bucket of water handy, just in case you need it.
8. In case anyone gets injured get immediate medical help.
9. Store the extra crackers away from any source of fire.
10. When bursting hand help crackers , keep the hands as far as possible from your body

There are the do’s; now I will tell you about the dont’s:

1. Do not burst crackers in crowded or congested areas
2. Do not bend over the crackers when putting fire
3. Do not keep crackers in your pocket
4. Do not burn crackers inside your house
5. Do not burn crackers when elders are not around
6. Do not burst crackers on roads where vehicles pass by frequently
7. Do not burn aerial crackers if there are overhead obstacles
8. Do not go near crackers that do not burst.
9. Avoid bursting crackers close to hospitals and nursing homes
10. Do not experiment or tamper the fire crackers

Holidays are meant for enjoying but that does not you should go overboard. I told about the safety tips to my mumma and dadda and they were very happy to know that I know about what safety measures to take even before they told me. So have fun with your friends and family and make the best memories. I am sure going to do that.